In my last guest post, I ended by saying we had received Z’s Asperger’s Syndrome diagnosis, researched alternatives to public schools and their IEPs and settled on a nearby private inclusion preschool and supplemental therapy. Z was going to get everything he needed. All was set. Until….

Until J, my husband, got a job offer in Denver! Finally! I was finally going home. Well. technically, my hometown is Miami, FL, but since I spent at least one week out of the year skiing in Colorado, most of my summers hiking in Colorado, four years of undergrad in Boulder and several years post college in Aspen, I considered myself a Coloradan. It’s where my heart lived. And now I had a chance for all of me to live there too.

Sure, I had heard that Colorado is one of the worst states in our great country when it came to public funding for special needs. And, yes, I had also heard that some of the public school districts were far from attractive. But, I had also heard that HIMAT had just been passed. And I knew in my heart it was where I wanted to raise my children. I was determined to make the move with eyes wide open and a heart filled with hope. I was ready. I was prepared to advocate the hell out of whatever system red tape and blocks were thrown my way and make the move a success for my little family.

To be completely fair and objective, it was an uphill battle. I had just learned what I needed to know about advocacy in NC and now I was starting from mostly ground zero in another state. At least this time, I already had an IEP that I could transfer, I knew the lingo and I knew where to start. So, start I did. I joined Yahoo! groups, contacted the Autism Society of Colorado, researched school districts. I flew out to Denver for a week to find a rental home, meet with school districts, the ASC and a few parents I had met through these Yahoo groups.

It was a success. I found a rental home in the Cherry Creek school district, got Z enrolled in their part time preschool with services covered in his IEP. After a few trials and errors, I found a private ABA therapy provider that my insurance company covered and we were off and running. Z was receiving about 20 hours a week of intervention and we quickly began to see marked improvements.

Fast forward to a year later and our situation has only gotten better. We have seen so much improvement in his behavior and his social skills that he no longer receives ABA or speech therapy, just an hour of OT a week for his sensory issues. He’s attending a full day preschool in an amazing language immersion school where he’s learning Mandarin, thriving, making friends and having fun!

What’s most heartwarming for me is how his and my relationship has blossomed. He’d always preferred J to me and we never knew why. He didn’t like getting hugs or kisses from me and always turned to J for comfort. I understood it wasn’t something I was doing wrong, it was just something about me that made it difficult for him to relate (maybe the tone of my voice? Maybe because I’m not a man? Who knew). But it was still heart-wrenching for me to get a cold shoulder when I tried to give him a good night kiss.

But now? Well, yesterday, Z and I spent the day together running errands. We ordered a cake for his upcoming 5th birthday party, bought party favors and got his haircut. A year ago, a day like this would have been akin to torture for me. Getting him in and out of the car, in and out of busy overwhelming stores, ensuring he didn’t run away from me in the parking lot and getting him to sit still for a hair cut would have brought us both to tears and meltdowns. A year ago, I don’t think I would have considered trying it. But yesterday was pure joy. I had a funny, friendly little guy that was so excited about his birthday party that he told everyone about it and responded appropriately when someone asked him how old he’d be (maybe not the best eye contact but if you didn’t know to look for it, you probably wouldn’t have noticed anything). I had a boy who willingly held my hand in the parking lot and told me how much he liked spending time with me. I had a child who understood that we couldn’t bring the cake home right now but could only tell them what we wanted and they’d make it for us. I had a kid who wore a cape during his haircut for the first time.

I have my son.

I should say that not everyone has had as good of an experience as I’ve had. There are countless horror stories from parents clamoring for support, help, therapy, and respite…..anything so they can better help their child. Countless tear jerking examples of parents unable to give their children what they need to succeed. But, mine isn’t that story. My experiences with HIMAT, insurance companies, service providers, IEPs and Special Ed teams have all been amazing. I (and Z) truly could not have made it this far without all the angels I’ve met here in Colorado.

Stay tuned for our next installment from guest blogger Rebecca. She lives in Denver where she spends her days wrangling two kids, a dog and a husband, working part time and enjoying Colorado as much as possible. She even manages to eek out some time to write in her blog, MBA Mommy where she talks about, you guessed it, wrangling 2 kids, a dog and a husband, working part-time and enjoying Colorado as much as possible!